Distillery Created New Market For Farm Products
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Faced with low prices for their potatoes, Dean Foster, his sister Marilee, and mother Lee started making potato vodka to keep the farm afloat. The Long Island, N.Y., farm family could have cashed in the fifth-generation land to developers, but opted to keep the farm going by founding Sagaponack Farm Distillery with the first product, Sagaponacka vodka, made from potatoes.
“Our goal is to keep our land as farmland,” says Lee Foster. “Our heart is in the land, and we want to do what we can to make a living from it.”
In the Foster’s case, that meant investing in an on-farm distillery, finding a partner who knew the business, and changing their crop mix. The distillery is designed as a serious business, not a sideline. It has a 70,000-gal. capacity. Getting it up and running wasn’t easy.
Although a change in New York state law favoring small-batch distillers made the distillery possible, it didn’t make it easy, notes Foster.
“Permitting was the biggest challenge,” she says. “There was township, county, state and federal permitting needed. What we thought might take a year and a half took four.”
Foster credits the family’s longevity in the community and the premise that building the distillery would keep the family farm in crops, not houses. Another important ingredient was support from other farmers.
“We have a strong farm community, not big, but we are vocal,” says Foster. “At every meeting there was an outpouring of folks who also farmed, legitimizing our position.”
While the Fosters knew farming, they needed a business partner who understood alcohol. They joined forces with Mat Beamer. He had been a brewer at 2 craft beer breweries in Utah before starting his own craft brewery that he later sold. It was a small step for him to move to producing distilled spirits.
By the time Sagaponack was up and running, so were 8 others on Long Island alone. However, the Fosters are confident they have a niche others don’t. While the law requires small batch distillers to source at least 75 percent of ingredients from within the state, the Fosters are trying to source 100 percent from their 500-acre farm. That has led to a change from a potatoes/corn rotation to potatoes/small grains and other crops.
“You don’t need that many potatoes for a batch of vodka,” notes Foster. “Dean has planted barley, triticale and other grains and we’ve started malting our own grains. We are still selling potatoes into the fresh market, but not near the hundredweight we did in the past. Marilee has expanded her farm stand with different textures, shapes and colors of potatoes. We’re investigating and exploring new varieties for possible use in the distillery.”
Currently products of the distillery are only available in the local area. In addition to the potato vodka, they are working on a variety of other spirits, including an American-style whiskey and even a rhubarb liquor.
Foster says they don’t yet have a distribution system in place, nor are they advertising. They also do not ship their products out of state. That doesn’t mean it isn’t being well received.
“It has been a lot of word of mouth,” she says. “Until we get a distributor, we’ll sell it bottle by bottle and case by case.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Sagaponack Farm Distillery, 369 Sagg Rd., Sagaponack, N.Y. 11962 (ph 631 537-7300; saggspirits@gmail.com; www.sagaponackfarmdistillery.com; https://www.facebook.com/Sagaponack-Farm-Distillery-1592936240931090/).
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Distillery Created New Market For Farm Products CROPS New Crops Faced with low prices for their potatoes Dean Foster his sister Marilee and mother Lee started making potato vodka to keep the farm afloat The Long Island N Y farm family could have cashed in the fifth-generation land to developers but opted to keep the farm going by founding Sagaponack Farm Distillery with the first product Sagaponacka vodka made from potatoes “Our goal is to keep our land as farmland ” says Lee Foster “Our heart is in the land and we want to do what we can to make a living from it ” In the Foster’s case that meant investing in an on-farm distillery finding a partner who knew the business and changing their crop mix The distillery is designed as a serious business not a sideline It has a 70 000-gal capacity Getting it up and running wasn’t easy Although a change in New York state law favoring small-batch distillers made the distillery possible it didn’t make it easy notes Foster “Permitting was the biggest challenge ” she says “There was township county state and federal permitting needed What we thought might take a year and a half took four ” Foster credits the family’s longevity in the community and the premise that building the distillery would keep the family farm in crops not houses Another important ingredient was support from other farmers “We have a strong farm community not big but we are vocal ” says Foster “At every meeting there was an outpouring of folks who also farmed legitimizing our position ” While the Fosters knew farming they needed a business partner who understood alcohol They joined forces with Mat Beamer He had been a brewer at 2 craft beer breweries in Utah before starting his own craft brewery that he later sold It was a small step for him to move to producing distilled spirits By the time Sagaponack was up and running so were 8 others on Long Island alone However the Fosters are confident they have a niche others don’t While the law requires small batch distillers to source at least 75 percent of ingredients from within the state the Fosters are trying to source 100 percent from their 500-acre farm That has led to a change from a potatoes/corn rotation to potatoes/small grains and other crops “You don’t need that many potatoes for a batch of vodka ” notes Foster “Dean has planted barley triticale and other grains and we’ve started malting our own grains We are still selling potatoes into the fresh market but not near the hundredweight we did in the past Marilee has expanded her farm stand with different textures shapes and colors of potatoes We’re investigating and exploring new varieties for possible use in the distillery ” Currently products of the distillery are only available in the local area In addition to the potato vodka they are working on a variety of other spirits including an American-style whiskey and even a rhubarb liquor Foster says they don’t yet have a distribution system in place nor are they advertising They also do not ship their products out of state That doesn’t mean it isn’t being well received “It has been a lot of word of mouth ” she says “Until we get a distributor we’ll sell it bottle by bottle and case by case ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Sagaponack Farm Distillery 369 Sagg Rd Sagaponack N Y 11962 ph 631 537-7300; saggspirits@gmail com; www sagaponackfarmdistillery com; https://www facebook com/Sagaponack-Farm-Distillery-1592936240931090/
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